PEORIA, Ill. – Senior
Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) had her eighth double-double of the year midway through the second quarter and scored a career-high 24 points in addition to collecting 17 rebounds to help power Bradley to a 56-52 victory over Evansville Sunday at Renaissance Coliseum.
The Braves (7-13 overall, 3-6 MVC) never trailed in the contest jumping out to a 7-2 lead at the midway point of the first quarter. Both teams shot under 30 percent in the opening period with Bradley holding an 11-10 lead 10 minutes into the contest despite shooting 3-for-13 in the first.
A Lerma three-pointer nearing the five-minute mark of the second quarter gave Bradley a 25-19 lead and the Braves eventually took a 29-27 advantage into the locker room at the half.
Bradley scored the first seven points of the third quarter and used an 11-3 run over the first 5:11 of the period to grab a 40-30 advantage. Lerma had a steal and breakaway layup to open the spurt and followed it with a put back basket. Junior
Madison Dellamuth (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie) split a pair of free throws and sophomore
Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) knocked down a jumper in the lane.
Lerma followed three Evansville (8-12 overall, 3-6 MVC) points with a pair of layups as she scored eight of Bradley's first 11 points of the third quarter.
The Braves had their largest lead at 52-41 with 4:13 left in the fourth before a late push by the Purple Aces. A layup by
Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) gave Bradley the 11-point cushion and was the final field goal of the contest for Bradley.
Sara Dickey hit a three-pointer to open an 8-0 Evansville run and the BU lead was trimmed to 52-46 after a Camary Williams steal and breakaway layup. Brooke Dossett pulled the Aces within three at 52-49 with a three-point play with 1:39 left.
Freshman
Alona Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Riverside) split a pair of free throws with 56.0 seconds left to push Bradley's lead back to four (53-49) and the Braves held Evansville to 1-for-6 from the field over the final 90 seconds to close out the 56-52 victory.
"Thank goodness for three things, defense, rebounding and
Leti Lerma," said first-year head coach
Andrea Gorski. "I think Leti just really wanted to win this game today, and was going to go out and do whatever it took. She knows how important this four-game home stand is and we needed to make sure we got the win today."
Lerma had 12 points and 11 rebounds at halftime as she closed out the day with a career-best 24 points to go with 17 rebounds, one assist, one block and three steals in 38 minutes. No other Bradley player scored more than seven points as Brackmann pulled down 13 rebounds and had seven points off the bench.
The Braves shot just 30.9 percent from the field including 2-of-21 from three-point range, but Bradley's 27 offensive rebounds were the most for the team since a Feb. 2, 2003 game against Evansville (27). Bradley dominated the glass 56-30 for the team's best rebounding margin against a Missouri Valley Conference team since Jan. 19, 1991 (+29 vs. Western Illinois).
Evansville managed to shoot 35.8 percent overall and was paced by Williams' 15 points. She also tallied nine rebounds and five steals, while Dickey joined her in double figures with 10 points to lead the Purple Aces.
Bradley continues a four-game MVC home stand Friday with a 7 p.m. matchup against Loyola at Renaissance Coliseum.